Crashes force closure of sections of Hwy. 401

Police have reopened sections of Hwy. 401 after a day of crashes along a 75-kilometre stretch of Canada’s busiest highway ground traffic to a halt.

In one section near Putnam Rd. on Hwy. 401, ambulances were struggling to get to the injured in a crash scene that stretched for kilometres. Some patients reportedly suffered fractured limbs in the crashes.

The front of one transport truck was completely sheered off and the engine left sitting in the roadway east of London. The driver was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

In another crash on Hwy. 401 east of London a passenger bus crashed with a transport and the back corner of the truck came to rest on the driver’s seat of the bus. The driver of the bus was taken to hospital with unknown injuries.

There were 13 passengers on the bus who were picked up by another Greyhound bus and taken to London.

Truck drivers at the scene said there were complete whiteout conditions at the time of the crashes.

One driver said he just saw taillights ahead, hit the brakes and hoped he wouldn’t be hit.

The crashes on Hwy. 401 brought paramedics in three ambulances from Middlesex-London EMS to assist their Oxford colleagues. Crews were tagging vehicles to indicate which had patients needing care and which didn’t.

"We really want to get the message home to these transport drivers, they need to slow down," Rektor said.

Police said transports driving at or over the posted speed limit during blinding snow storms create extra visibility issues caused by the snow and debris blown around them. They also need to anticipate smaller vehicles that may be travelling at significantly reduces speeds.

"When a driver fails to drive a transport truck responsibly, and crashes, the consequences are usually catastrophic," Middlesex OPP said in a news release.

In Chatham-Kent OPP urged people to avoid travel, if possible.

Thousands of students in the London region had the day off school as the latest snowstorm triggered school closures and bus cancellations.

School buses have been cancelled in Elgin, Middlesex and Oxford Counties Wednesday morning.

Environment Canada issued a snowfall warning for Middlesex County and London at 8:17 a.m.. Snowfall warnings have also been issued for Huron, Perth, Sarnia, Lambton, Chatham-Kent, Oxford, and Brant County.

Total snowfalls of 15 centimetres are forecast in the warned areas.

Environment Canada said several centimetres of snow fell overnight from Sarnia to Kingston, but the heaviest snow is expected to fall Wednesday morning.

Gusty northeast winds are forecast to develop this morning and may result in local blowing snow.

School closures

Elgin County

• Aldborough PS

• New Sarum PS

• Port Stanley PS

• South Dorchester PS

• Southwold PS

• Sparta PS

• Summers’ Corners PS

Middlesex County

• Adelaide W.G. MacDonald PS

• Caradoc North PS

• Centennial Central PS

• McGillivray Central PS

• Medway HS

• Mosa Central PS

• Oxbow PS

• Valleyview PS

• West Nissouri PS

Oxford County

• East Oxford PS

• Zorra Highland PS

London – Red/Yellow Zone

• Westminster Central PS

– with files from Jonathan Sher

– – –

WHERE

From Ingersoll, west past London

THE WARNINGS

The official Environment Canada snowfall warning came at rush hour — 8:17 a.m., for London-Middlesex. At least five other area counties also had them. OPP pleaded with drivers, especially truckers, to slow down. Sgt. Dave Rektor said he saw many transport drivers going more than 100 km/h early in the day.

THE CRASHES

Dozens: Jackknifed transports, ditched cars — even a Greyhound that collided with a transport, the truck’s back corner left resting on the bus driver’s seat. Middlesex OPP reported three jackknifed trucks in one 30-minute stretch.

EYE-POPPERS

A truck axle, engine block and a cab — minus its chassis — strewn along the highway near Putnam Rd., after a chain of crashes.

Visibility so poor even flares police used to mark the road were tough to see.

THE TOLL

Dozens taken to hospital with varying injuries. Police reported no deaths, remarkable given the complete whiteouts some truckers reported.

THE AMBULANCES

Up and down the road, they were there — in some cases, amid so many crashes crews had to tag vehicles to show which had people needing attention and which not.

“They’re doing triaging — it’s similar to what’s done in a mass casualty,” said Neal Roberts of Middlesex-London EMS.

On HWY 401

Police and Greyhound employees survey the damage after a bus carrying 13 passengers collided with the back of a transport truck on Hwy. 401 near Putnam Rd. east of London.

Bus passengers look at a damaged SUV whose driver was extricated.

The engine block of a transport sits on the roadway near the cab after both were shorn off their chassis after it hit the back of another truck.

OPP Sgt. Dave Rektor places road flares on the highway.

Emergency workers take the driver of an SUV to a waiting ambulance.

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